Five things

Other
work: United Way of Greater Cleveland board of
directors since 2012

Beverly Schneider is often asked how she made the switch from studying singing to enrolling in law school. It may seem like a huge leap — and in many ways is, she concedes — but her bachelor's in vocal performance turned out to be great preparation for her legal work. "I don't think you meet too many people who work harder than musicians," Schneider said. "And so I think that really did set me up to be able to take on the monster that is law school." The Texas native fell in love with Cleveland during her summer internships at Thompson Hine, where she worked upon graduating from The University of Michigan Law School. From there, she moved to Steris Corp.

You've mentioned that your move to Steris about five years ago was driven by its reputation and a desire to switch to in-house legal work. What about the environment there attracted you?

When I was interviewing, one of my biggest questions to the legal department was 'How do you feel like you interact with your internal clients?' I wanted to feel comfortable that I was moving into a department that felt like it works really well with the business, and feels like a collaborator and a partner, as opposed to a stop sign.

What challenges — and opportunities — have come from moving to in-house legal work?

I think one of the greatest challenges for me, but also one of the greatest benefits for me, is that we are not set up as specialists, so I'm a generalist now. Before, I was learning to be a specialist in M&A and that is much more my comfort zone: to learn something and know everything about it. Now I have to feel comfortable to say I don't know the answer to that and I'm going to reach out to local counsel who specializes in this area, which just isn't my favorite thing to say.

Where would you like be in the future?

I honestly at this point just want to keep learning how to be a better lawyer every day. The diversity of work is so incredible. I just look forward to the times when I say, 'Oh yeah. I did this once before. I've got this.'

What others are saying:

What about Beverly has helped in her ability to take on expanded roles and varied responsibilities?

"Beverly's got an incredibly strong work ethic, she's a very personable person. She's incredibly flexible. She has continuously and progressively expanded her role and served the company and our clients well."

— Timothy Clancy, Steris group general counsel, health care

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